Preaching the Dream

On Sunday, I had the absolute joy of sharing the story and vision of church planting in Philadelphia. 7 Mile Road in Boston, the church that will plant ours, received this vision with such grace.

This is the first time we’ve really articulated our vision and it was a joy to do so. If you want to get a sense of this massive call that God has placed on us and what this whole thing is about, here it is. Listen and be prayerful about whether God would have you dreaming along with us.

9 Comments

Hey, I can’t wait to listen to it. Let us know when it’s available. Is it possible to upload that talk directly into this blog? That way anyone checking out the Philly church plant blog can access it directly.

If you need tech support, just call me between the hours of 9am – 5pm India time, I can walk you through it. It can be pretty technical, first point your mouse to where it says, “Listen Here”, then click. Let me know how it goes.

I’m very excited to see what God has in store for all of you as you embark on this incredible journey. You are in our thoughts and prayers. Please keep updating this blog so folks like us in the great land of Texas can still be in the loop.

Manoj

ps Jim, I’m having issues with my laptop. Can you get one of your brethern in Bangalore to give me a call?

Thank you for sharing your heart and vision. It’s refreshing to hear the details of this church plant and how the Lord has been leading you in this direction. As we’ve been talking, I’ve mentioned how I am currently involved in ministry at the Mar Thoma Church in Philly, and how we are concentrating on preaching the gospel and teaching through the Scriptures in that place. And though many have left the Mar Thoma Church, there’s still a large group of people who have remained in the church (either by choice or because of various restrictions). Has there been any discussion on how 7 Mile would be able to network with these churches in order to equip the leaders and share the resources that you have? I know that you guys are in the early stages of this plant, but I was wondering if any such discussion has come up?

I don’t have any clever comments to offer concerning “tech support”, but I will let you know if I think of anything.:)

One of our intentions (and something we’ve started doing) is to visit a bunch of the churches in the area; just to introduce ourselves, build relationships, and to learn from churches and pastors who have been doing this a lot longer than us. So, we’ll do the same with the Indian churches in the area as well. Sitting this far out, I don’t know the details of what that relationship will look like – but am asking God to make it fruitful.

What we are doing even now, is praying specifically for the churches in Philly by name, and for the Indian churches as well. We’re asking God to transform the city of Philadelphia through the faithful proclamation of the Gospel through the ministry of the local churches. That’s our prayer…so let God cause us to partner with one another to that end.

Don’t worry about ‘tech support.’ Jim is one of the workers we’ve outsourced from India. His real name is Balachandran, but we figured ‘Jim’ is easier for Americans to pronounce. He’ll answer any questions you have, but be aware, he may have a thick accent.

3. I look forward to form Kingdom partnership and sharing of resources.

4. Likewise, you are free to use any articles and blog entry from our SAC website provided you link the article back to us and include this statement: Used with permission from South Asian Connection http://www.southasianconnection.com

5. If you know other bloggers or writers that could benefit and be blessed from a wider coverage, please introduce them to us. We have thousands of online readers that visit our website from all religious affliations.

On Sunday, I got to preach our vision again. This time at the Forestdale Community Church. Forestdale is the church that planted 7 Mile Road Boston. And so I introduced 7 Mile Road Philly as their granddaughter and called them to participate with us as grandparents. They received the vision with great excitement and grace. I loved sharing our dream with them and look forward to partnering with them.